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CHARLES EDWARD HAMLIN. 



A MEMORIAL. 



Commemorative Discourse 



ON THE 



LIFE AND CHARACTER 



OF 



Prof. Charles Edward Hamlin, LLD. 



DELIVERED IN THE CHAPEL OF COLBY UNIVERSITY, 



JULY 5th, 1887, 



BY 



' 






Rev. Francis W. Bakeman, d.d. 



PORTLAND : 
PRINTED BY B. THURSTON & COMPANY 

1887. 




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HAMLIN MEMORIAL. 



Eighteen months have passed since one of the most distin- 
guished of our alumni, for twenty years a Professor in this 
college, was taken from our number. That voice which we 
have so long heard, reading annually the list of the fallen, 
has now gone silent itself; the fatal asterisk is set against 
his name, and we come, though tardily, to recall his memory. 

In spite of the consolations of philosophy, and the larger 
assurances of christian faith, the death of the wise and good 
has in it a sadness which neither philosophy nor religion can 
wholly cure. Especially sad is it when the summons comes as 
to our professor in the full maturity of his powers, when the 
vast stores of gathered learning had become most useful ; when 
thirty years of unremitting discipline had brought his mental 
faculties to their highest degree of efficiency, and the largest 
results of a life-time lay as a fast ripening harvest before him. 

Professor Hamlin came to the grave, not when the slow 
decay of mental powers had set the warning signals of death, 
but at that time when the equipment for his work was almost 
perfect, and the intellectual fruitage of the next ten years 
bade fair to be the most abundant. ' It is all the more sad 
when we remember that out of this life of an industry seldom 
equaled, our professor has bequeathed us no literary or scien- 
tific monument to perpetuate his name. 

It is therefore especially fitting that we pause in the very 
height of these joyous festivities to recall the memory of him 
whose bright spirit was once the charm and beauty of these 
academic shades. 



4 HAMLIN MEMORIAL. 

A life uniting such superiority of mind to such nobility of 
nature ; a life of such devoted consecration to the highest 
ideals of culture and character ; of such scrupulous fidelity to 
every smallest or greatest trust ; a life of such simple piety, of 
such absolute sincerity ; a life so well fitted to arouse within 
us all truest aspirations ; such a life is not so common that we 
can afford to let it pass unnoticed. 

Let us then contemplate for an hour, the life, character and 
service of our fallen brother. 

The family name, Hamlin, had its origin in the Norman- 
French Hamelin, which crossed the channel with the conqueror, 
in 1066, a date when surnames were yet unknown. 

The first Hamlin to reach this country was James, who came 
from London to Barnstable, Cape Cod, in 1639, where he died 
in 1690. From him, in the seventh generation, sprang the 
subject of this sketch. 

Charles Edward Hamlin, son of Charles and Elizabeth (Wil- 
liams) Hamlin, was born on Water street, Augusta, Maine, 
February 4th, 1825, the oldest of five children, all sons. 

The principal part of his preparation for college was in the 
Augusta High School, under the instruction of Wm. W. Wood- 
bury, a graduate of this college in the class of 1841. Between 
Mr. Woodbury and his young pupil there sprang up a life-long 
friendship. At the age of sixteen, the boy was ready for col- 
lege ; but his father wisely proposed to defer his entrance for 
another year, influenced no doubt by his son's delicate consti- 
tution. 

The eagerness of the lad to pursue his studies, exhibiting 
thus early the native bent of his mind, comes out in his reply : 
" Father," he said, with tearful eyes, " if I wait a whole 
year I shall then be too old to enter college." The eager spirit 
and the tears must have prevailed, for in September, 1841, in 
his seventeeth year, he became a member of the class of 1845. 



HAMLIN MEMORIAL. 5 

Two years later, in July, 1843, ill health compelled him to 
relinquish his studies, and it was not until May, 1845, that he 
joined the class of 1847, in the third term of the sophomore 
year. After graduation, Mr. Hamlin became principal of the 
Vermont Literary and Scientific Institute, at Brandon, for a 
single year. The following year he was master of the High 
School in Bath. In November, 1849, he became associate 
principal in the Connecticut Literary Institution, at Suffield, 
with his friend Woodbury. Here he served until called to take 
charge of the department of Chemistry and Natural History in 
Waterville College, February 17, 1853. He was elected pro- 
fessor in this department, August 9, of the same year. 

August 17, of this year, he married Elizabeth Ann Smith, 
of Conway, Mass. After twenty years of service in this col- 
lege he removed to Cambridge in the summer of 1873, accept- 
ing an appointment as assistant in Conchology and Pakeontol- 
ogy in the Museum of Comparative Zoology. 

In this work he closed his life. He died at his home in 
Cambridge, January 3, 1886, after an illness of between two 
and three months, which ended in acute pneumonia, being 
sixty-one years of age, lacking a single month. His body was 
taken to Augusta for burial, where he now sleeps with his 
fa*thers. Such is the barest outline of his natural life. 

1 And now, as we seek to recall the chief element in a 
character so instructive and impressive, where shall we more 
fittingly begin than with his religious faith ? 

In the spring of 1843, during his sophomore year, there was 
a deep religious interest in college, and young Hamlin, making 
confession of his faith, was baptized by Rev. Dr. D. N. Sheldon. 
That the religious impression made upon him at this time was 
deep and genuine is proved by a fact not known to many, that 
at the time of his graduation he had resolved to make- the 
christian ministry the work of his life. Such is the truth. And 



b HAMLIN MEMOBIAL. 

it was only a series of singular, providential occurrences, that 
finally led him to a professorship instead of to a pulpit. Who 
can imagine the change in his career had this sensitive, shrink- 
ing, yet profoundly conscientious man been called to endure 
the trials and anxieties, the misunderstandings and heartaches, 
incident to the average pastorate. But God may lead one 
from a pulpit as well as to it, and so He gave his servant, not a 
lighter burden possibly, but one which he was better fitted to 
bear. 

The religious faith of Professor Hamlin was simple, strong, 
constant, and entirely unmixed with speculation. His scientific 
researches had awakened no doubts. Handling God's works 
all his life and interpreting God's thoughts from day to day, 
only brought him nearer to God. He often said, "There are 
difficulties in faith, but infinitely greater ones in unbelief." 
He had no sympathy with what is called the scientific scepti- 
cism of the day. He had no fear of being called unscientific 
because he began and pursued his studies in the devout spirit 
of a christian, and with constant reverence for God as mani- 
fested in his works. What the true attitude of all christian 
teachers should be toward the oppositions of science he has 
most ably set forth in an article published in the Baptist Quar- 
terly, in 1872 ; an article, by the way, which -makes us sorely 
regret that so facile a pen could not have been oftener employ- 
ed in similar service. 

His own view of the relation of science and religion is hap- 
pily expressed in these last two sentences of that essay. 
He says : " To hasten the coming of that day when science 
shall no longer appear to be the foe, but as she truly is, the co- 
adjutor of faith, let all religious teachers strive together 
whether they occupy pulpits or instructors' chairs. But that 
day cannot be established in its fulness until alienation of the 
human heart from nature's God shall cease to pervert the judg- 



HAMLIN MEMORIAL. 7 

ment of man in the study of His works." Where is the final 
secret of scientific scepticism more truly indicated than in this 
closing sentence ? 

Professor Hamlin was devout, spiritually minded, deeply in- 
terested in the progress of the gospel, in all the earth, and 
thoroughly loyal to all that is best in evangelical religion. 

In conversation he showed most unmistakably his simple 
trust in Christ, and his unshaken faith in the Bible. It is true 
that his religious life was somewhat deficient in outward ex- 
pression. He did not often bear public testimony to the faith 
that was in him, though at times the spirit overcame the weak- 
ness of the flesh, and his voice would be heard. It is indeed 
deeply to be regretted that one whose daily life and stainless 
character would have made his words so impressive and con- 
vincing should have been lacking at this point in christian ser- 
vice. But the same shy, retiring disposition which kept him 
all his life from general society, and made public observation 
so painful to him, held him back from giving voice to the inner 
life. That he lined a christian life, none will deny. If he did 
not talk in the prayer-meeting as a christian ought, he certainly 
talked out of it as a christian should. One has said of him, 
" He was like Mary; he listened much and said little." He was 
deeply in sympathy with the christian experience of others. 
When I myself made profession of religion during my sopho- 
more year, I shall never forget how he stopped me after a 
morning recitation, and in few but tender words, expressed 
his joy at the step I had taken, and with unmistakable appro- 
bation and sympathy bade me God speed in the Christian life. 

2 The essential element in Professor Hamlin's character was 
absolute sincerity in his whole mental and moral nature. From 
that root all other good qualities sprang or received invigora- 
tion. This was the solid foundation on which his character 
was built up. This characteristic is the key to the whole char- 



8 HAMLIN MEMORIAL. 

acter of the man. Not only his moral but also his mental 
qualities took their mold and emphasis from this fundamental 
sincerity. Professor Hamlin was a real man. He looked, 
spoke and acted himself. Simulation or pretense was a moral 
impossibility in him. 

There was no double nature in our professor, no mean man 
and noble man in daily conflict. Mr. Stevenson's brilliant 
psychological conception of Dr. Jekyll and Henry Hyde, which 
illustrates so profound a truth in human nature, would have 
found the least possible verification in him. As you saw him 
today, so would you find him tomorrow, and a year hence. 
His principles were changeless, and his opinions were very 
nearly so, because they were formed only after the most careful 
examination, and on the lines of established truth. He was 
always the same, true as a sunbeam, pure as a snow-flake, trans- 
parent as glass, changeless in moral quality as finest gold. 
You would as soon look for duplicity in St. Paul as in this man. 
Any other than frank, straightforward conduct could have 
come only from a moral revolution in his whole nature. 

He had a high disdain for everj^thing like worldly policy or 
indirection. That a straight line measures the shortest dis- 
tance between two points, was for him just as true morally as 
mathematically. The essential sincerity of his nature was such 
that he held in abhorrence the scheming, wire-pulling spirit of 
the politician. What he said, was what he sincerely believed. 
What he did, was an exact exponent of his convictions. His 
words and acts revealed, not concealed the man. Honest in 
speech, honest in act, sincere in all his intentions ; if an honest 
man is the noblest work of God, Professor Hamlin's patent of 
nobility is clearly established. 

Out of this radical sincerity came the exceeding truthfulness 
of the man. He could not deviate one hair's breadth from the 
truth, even for the sake of pleasing, or for personal advantage. 



HAMLIN MEMORIAL. 9 

Neither could he utter the thousand and one half-truths which 
modern social life has made so nearly a necessity. He knew 
how to say kind things, but he must first believe them to be true 
things. 

So also his hearty abhorrence of all shams, pretense and un- 
reality had its rise in this characteristic sincerity. The only 
student who had any reason to stand in fear of Professor 
Hamlin was the hollow, pretentious man, who thought to make 
appearance take the place of reality. This man's nature was 
so wholly sincere that unreality in men or things was quite 
unendurable. 

3 Professor Hamlin was remarkable for his exactness in 
thought, in expression, and in method. This characteristic 
also took its root in the sincerity of his nature. Approxima- 
tion was not enough for him, where exactness was possible. 
Almost was not his word, but quite. His very hesitancy of 
speech in the class-room was occasioned by his desire for exact- 
ness. He would not take up with a word which imperfectly 
represented his thought, when he knew there was one which 
exactly expressed it, to be had for the waiting. So he sacri- 
ficed fluency to exactness. All his habits were illustrations 
of this quality. He was always intolerant of anything like 
slovenliness. There was nothing of that kind in his nature. 
Every part of his dress was as neat and precise as if he were 
a young man of fashion, and yet the clothes themselves were 
very likely old-fashioned. His diaries, records and private 
accounts, even the minutest details of family expense, were 
kept with a neatness and immaculateness which would have 
made an expert bookkeeper envious. His copies of corres- 
pondence are as exact and carefully finished as if intended 
for exhibition. His penmanship even was a type of his men- 
tal structure, in its exactness. He has been heard to say that 
he considered it an insult to send one a letter not plainly writ- 



10 HAMLIN MEMORIAL. 

ten. Everything which he did was finished "to the nail." 
His experiments in the laboratory were prepared with a pains- 
taking exactness which made failure very nearly impossible. 

It was this mental quality of exactness, and nicety of dis- 
crimination, which made him a most skilful observer. He 
detected small resemblances and minute distinctions. The 
slightest marks of variation, which even practiced eyes might 
not have discovered, were not likely to elude him. It was this 
exactness as an observer which especially fitted him for his 
work of classification at the Museum. He delighted to search 
for minute points of differentiation. If the Author of nature 
had taken pains to make these finest shades and marks of dis- 
tinction in His works, he deemed it by no means too small a 
thing to note them carefully. 

4 Out of this fundamental quality of sincerity there came 
very naturally another cardinal virtue, faithfulness. In the 
performance of every duty, in the keeping of every trust, Pro- 
fessor Hamlin was conscientious to the last degree. His mar- 
velous exactness and accuracy in the intellectual sphere took 
on an ethical quality in the higher moral relations, and became 
a remarkable fidelity to every duty. To have Professor Ham- 
lin's promise was an absolute guaranty of performance, within 
the limits of his ability. To convince him of an obligation 
was to enlist every power of mind and body to fulfil it. He 
had in him a great capacity for self-sacrifice, and a latent spirit 
of true heroism. When a strenuous effort was made in 1861 
or 1862 to raise funds for our needy college, different portions 
of the State were assigned to the faculty, from which to solicit 
money. To Professor Hamlin the counties of Hancock and 
Washington were given. Without a murmur, this sensitive, 
diffident man, much as he must naturally have shrunk from so 
unwelcome a task, plunged into the wintry gloom of the coast 
towns of Eastern Maine in the forbidding season of December 



HAMLIN MEMORIAL. 11 

and January, and going from house to house became a beggar 
for the sake of the college. He secured quite a number of 
scholarships as the result of such laborious gleaning on that 
barren field. 

It is safe to say that all the money he raised would never 
have tempted him to do for himself what he so cheerfully un- 
dertook for love and duty. In his duties as a college officer no 
man could be more faithful, and his preparation to go before 
his classes was as regular and painstaking in the last of his 
teaching as at the first. 

He was conscientiously faithful in the smallest details, in the 
least trusts. It was in his very blood. " He that is faithful in 
that which is least, is faithful also in much." This man would 
have been faithful anywhere, everywhere ; behind a counter, at 
a workman's bench, on the deck of a fishing-schooner, or as a 
solitary sentinel on the farthest outpost of a Siberian desert. 

5 Of kindred nature with the qualities already mentioned, 
and nourished from this radical sincerity, we find in Professor 
Hamlin a high sense of honor, merging into a passionate love of 
justice. His standards of personal rectitude were most exact- 
ing. He was upright as the palm-tree in all his conduct of life. 
His honesty was something larger and nobler than the idea 
which that word is able to conve}^ ; it was rather honor than 
mere honesty which characterized him. There was a nicety in 
his sense of honor which told the fineness of his nature. It 
ruled in the smallest, as well as in the greatest of his affairs. 
He paid the little bills of tradesmen with a promptness and 
carefulness of details which one would hardly expect from an 
absorbed student, to whom such things might well be irksome. 
Here was a man whose honesty was such, that none who knew 
him best would have hesitated a moment to give their gold and 
bonds unsecured into his custody; and whose honor was so un- 
questionable, that neither man nor woman would ever fear to 



12 HAMLIN MEMORIAL. 

trust him with their dearest reputation. Simply to contemplate a 
character so lofty should make us glow with noblest emulation. 
This sense of rectitude in small things was a sure token of what 
might be expected in the highest moral sentiments and rela- 
tions. 

Professor Hamlin was an enthusiastic lover of justice and 
bowed in humble devotion to the right. Righteousness was 
the most commanding word in his moral vocabulary. A mighty 
conscience dominated his life and action. Shy as he was by na- 
ture, backward in self assertion, modest as to the value of his 
own opinions, and shunning the public gaze with the timidity 
of a wood-bird, yet nevertheless in cases where a moral principle 
was at stake, or right and wrong in the issue, he would stand like 
a lion for the truth, and face the world "in noble scorn of conse- 
quence." It is said of Thomas Arnold that his hatred of in- 
justice was so strong that he would grow white with indigna- 
tion over the recital of wrongs and oppressions that had been 
committed centuries ago. The same might be truly said of Pro- 
fessor Hamlin. Even historic wrongs excited him to a vehe- 
mence which he seldom exhibited ; but when it was a living in- 
justice, a case of present oppression, then this gentle spirit 
would flame forth in holy wrath, and the whole man would 
seem transformed by righteous passion. Entirely democratic 
in his sympathies, he espoused the cause of the oppressed with 
a heart of fire. 

Though he' was often thought aristocratic by those who knew 
him little, because of his dignified bearing and refined tastes, 
no man was ever more truly in sympathy with the popular 
heart, or felt a deeper anxiety for the welfare of men. 

This sense of justice and natural resentment of social wrongs 
made Professor Hamlin from the first an ardent opposer of 
slavery. His sympathies with the colored race in their oppres- 
sions were heartfelt and constant. 



HAMLIN MEMORIAL. 13 

This love of justice, this revolt against all oppression, and 
especially that heroism of character which was able to face the 
world in defense of cherished principles, were most splendidly 
exhibited in the legal adoption by Professor Hamlin of a child 
whose parents had been slaves until war had made them free. 
This little girl, a mere babe at the time, was adopted by Pro- 
fessor Hamlin, with the cheerful consent of a wife equal to him- 
self in conviction and courage, and sharing equally in his mag- 
nanimous feelings. 

The chief motives which led Professor Hamlin to receive 
this little one to his home were first the desire to prove by ex- 
periment what careful nurture and opportunities of culture 
could do for the colored race ; and secondly, to give a practical 
exhibition of that christian sympathy which ought only to 
remember "that God hath made of one blood all nations of 
men." That child received until womanhood, the comforts 
and blessings and culture which his home made possible. 
Under the guidance of these true christian philanthropists, she 
acquired a superior education, for which any young lady in our 
land might well be thankful ; an education which has since 
enabled her, in one of the higher schools of the South, to be- 
come a teacher of her own race, and thus to vindicate the wis- 
dom of her benefactors. 

The native grandeur of Professor Hamlin's character never 
came more clearly to view than in this act. The shy scholar 
sitting in the seclusion of his study, suddenly rose up and gave 
the world a lesson in moral heroism and christian charity. 
All the more noble was it because done in the teeth of popular 
disfavor and even ridicule. Polite society shook its head, 
lifted its eyebrows, and expressed ominous fears. In social 
circles it was regarded as a visionary undertaking, an attempt 
to put into practice what was extreme and ideal in theory. 
The bringing up of that little child of an alien race, as if it 



14 HAMLIN MEMORIAL. 

were of his own flesh and blood, with the social world against 
him, with the refined, but no less positive prejudice of our 
New England spirit of caste expressing its disapproval, was 
an act of moral heroism which deserves a place among the 
brightest examples of historic philanthropy. 

This action indicates a largeness of nature, a clearness of 
moral perception, an independence of judgment, an unwavering 
confidence in the eternal principles of truth, a wideness of 
human sympathy, and an emancipation from race prejudice, 
which make it evident that here was a man living at least a 
century in advance of New England. To face popular opinion, 
and move steadily on in his purpose, not because he was of an 
audacious or polemic disposition, but solely because it seemed 
a righteous thing to do ; this was a simple grandeur of charac- 
ter, the silent heroism of unselfish manhood, which both de- 
serves and compels our admiration. Here was a man whose 
practice was abreast of his conviction. He believed in the 
essential equality of human nature, and he coined that belief 
into a deed, and so gave the precious truth currency, which is 
the really noble, but hard thing to do in life. Theories are 
gold in the ore, deeds are the same gold minted. Theorists 
declaimed about the brotherhood of man, and wrote beautiful 
essays on the unity of the race ; Professor Hamlin took a child 
of a long abused people into the sacred privileges of his home, 
and everybody was amazed that half a century of theory had 
suddenly bloomed into this humble, but beautiful, flower of 
practice. 

For three-quarters of a century this nation had been giving 
the lie to its own Declaration of Independence, that all men 
are created equal, and here was one broad and catholic enough 
to do a deed in the very spirit of that great manifesto, and still 
men wondered. 

This timid man, shrinking like a sensitive plant from the 



HAMLIN MEMORIAL. 15 

public touch, faced the world unflinchingly, because he felt the 
mighty conviction that he was right, and in defense of the 
right he would have died with a smile. 

Professor Hamlin's quick sense of justice had frequent illus- 
tration in his relations to his students. His moral and intel- 
lectual earnestness, and his high estimate of the value of learn- 
ing made him impatient of levity, and he resented indifference 
to the noble studies which so absorbed his own attention. 
Such manifestations of levity or indifference occasionally elic- 
ited a reprimand. But when he had any suspicion that his 
words were not strictly just, or that there had been any error 
on his part, no man could be more ready and anxious to make 
reparation. Sometimes he would pursue a case like this for 
days by careful inquiries to make sure whether his judgment 
had been at fault. This impartial, candid spirit, won the con- 
fidence of all. 

6 Modesty, and its sister virtue humility, were marked traits 
in Professor Hamlin's character. Extreme diffidence restrained 
him from all self-assertion, from childhood to the very last. On 
account of his natural bent of mind and native tastes, it is prob- 
able that he indulged this feeling instead of attempting to cor- 
rect it. In after years, he recognized and deplored this extreme 
diffidence as a deficiency of his nature. In a conversation with 
a former pupil as late as 1881, he referred to his own bashful- 
ness and the repressing influence it had exerted over all his 
life, and then he referred with great earnestness of speech and 
manner to a recent conversation on the same subject with his 
brother. " I told Horace," he said, " that if I were to begin life 
over again I would not give way to my bashfulness, but I 
would whip myself into it." He had a morbid shrinking from 
positions of responsibility, and from all public observation. Be- 
fore he went to Suffield as assistant, he was urged to become 



16 HAMLIN MEMORIAL. 

principal of the school ; but with characteristic modesty he rec- 
ommended his old instructor and friend, Mr. Woodbury, for 
that position, prefering to work under him as assistant rather 
than to be chief. Twice he was approached to take the presi- 
dency of a college ; but he promptly refused, and would no 
doubt have assigned as a reason that " it was an office wholly 
incompatible with his temperament and tastes." Prominent 
positions were several times urged upon him and yet so modest 
was he in reference to himself that it is doubtful if more than 
half a dozen of his most intimate friends were aware of it. 
Humility was one of the fairest charms of Professor Hamlin's 
character. He complied with the Apostle's injunction and did 
not think of himself more highly than he ought to think. He 
had a very humble conception of his own powers and attain- 
ments. It is not probable that any word with even the sem- 
blance of boasting in it, ever fell from his lips, and it is quite 
as true that he never disparaged the attainments of others. 

Never was there a more catholic, generous scholar, gladly ap- 
preciative of all the efforts of his fellow-students. He set a 
low estimate upon his own acquirements, because he knew so 
well what endless realms of the undiscovered stretched before 
him. He was made humble by the comparison between his 
knowledge and his ignorance. He felt that he had made but a 
small clearing on a broad continent of learning which he could 
never hope to explore. His aspirations were never for high 
things, or conspicuous places. The only ambition he ever ex- 
pressed for place, was when he said to an old class-mate that he 
had once hoped to be a librarian. Men with a small part of his 
real learning have attracted the attention of the scientific world 
by their writings and with greater self-assertion he could have 
done the same. But he sought knowledge for love of it not as 
an instrument of self-exaltation. And the same modest spirit 
which so often sealed his lips, also stayed his pen. 



HAMLIN MEMOEIAL. IT 

7 As in every superior character, one found in Professor 
Hamlin strongly marked contrasts. The more nearly complete 
and symmetrical a human character becomes, the more notice- 
able will be the union of widely contrasted qualities making up 
the true harmony of being. The perfect character will ex- 
hibit opposite qualities, blended into perfect harmony by a con- 
trolling will. Gentleness will blend with firmness ; conscious- 
ness of power will go side by side with humility ; goodness 
will be united with severity, and kindness will blend with 
truthfulness. Such contrasted qualities united in the one per- 
fect man of human history ! 

The larger and richer the nature, the more you observe con- 
trasts which at first surprise you ; opposite qualities dwelling 
in the same man, capacities and abilities so different in kind 
that you hardly expect to find them united in the same person. 
So was it with our professor. One observing him for the first 
time might think him a very grave and even severe man. But 
a more sunny nature it would be hard to find. A kinder, more 
tender heart was rare among men. At home in his family, 
among his friends, and especially with a single companion, he 
was like a child in his simplicity, and in the winning frankness 
of his nature. 

The awe-struck student, who shrank at first from the appar- 
ent stateliness of the professor, was surprised to learn on 
closer acquaintance that all thoughts of personal superiority 
were utterly foreign to him, and that beneath all his dignity 
beat the heart of a boy. And then let that student be with 
him alone in the cabinet or in the laboratory, and in the charm 
of his rapturous talk, in the fresh and youthful abandon with 
which he enters into the subjects, the stateliness will be for- 
gotten, and the dignity will melt into a kind of a resistless 
courtesy. So modest is he in the apparent estimates of his own 
acquirements, so evidently made humble by the very affluence 
2 



18 HAMLIN MEMOEIAL. 

of his learning, of whose limitations he is yet so sadly con- 
scious, that the student is never made to blush for his own igno- 
rance, but rather to feel for the time that teacher and pupil are 
on the same level, seeking to know the wonders of nature. 

One would suppose on short acquaintance that Professor 
Hamlin was a very sober person, given to dry studies, little 
caring for the light and merry side of life. As a matter of 
fact, he had a rare appreciation of humor, and a sense of the 
ludicrous so keen, that he often saw mirthful aspects in events 
which seemed entirely sober to everybody else. He enjoyed 
flashes of wit, humorous turns, bright sallies and repartees, 
with a relish which was no doubt heightened by the serious 
nature of his daily studies. 

In marked contrast with his retiring habits and scholarly ab- 
sorption in those quiet studies which took him so far from the 
" madding crowd," was his intense and eager interest in current 
events of a political and civil kind. No real issue in state or 
nation failed to excite his attention. This man of fossils, whose 
thoughts were engaged so largely with the dead past was a pa_ 
triot of the intensest kind, watching every movement in national 
affairs with an anxiety which could hardly have been keener, had 
his personal welfare or millions of property been at stake. He 
read the papers carefully and preserved numerous cuttings illus- 
trative of current history. 

He had none of that narrowness which one would expect to 
find in a specialist absorbed in lines of study which took him so 
far from the clamor of daily life. One would naturally say, .he 
is absorbed with shells and fishes, and birds and bugs, and things 
of b}^-gone ages ; surely the cloistered student will care little 
how the world goes now. But such was not the case. This 
large nature was full of surprises. He lived near to nature's 
heart truly, but nearer still to the heart of human nature. 

During the " War of the Rebellion," both his sympathies and 



HAMLIN MEMORIAL. 19 

his anxieties were intense. He was a " born " patriot, and 
shared the feelings of the students in their excitement. Yet in 
the midst of all this confusion, and glowing with patriotic zeal 
himself, he labored hard and urged the best men, personally, to 
keep up the standard of recitations. For once the patriot and 
the disciplinarian seemed at cross purposes. 

To see Professor Hamlin in a promiscuous company standing, 
as would be his wont, somewhat shyly apart from the others, 
with his face in that repose which was almost severe in its 
thoughtful dignity, a stranger would very likely conclude that 
he was an intellectual, but rather reticient and unsocial man. 
The stranger would be little likely to imagine that this still 
man is truly brilliant in conversation, affluent in literary and' 
historic illustrations, bright in repartee. But let two or three 
congenial spirits draw near and begin to converse, and soon the 
diffidence gives way, the silent man becomes a talker. Sound- 
est wisdom, noblest sentiments, literary and scientific illustra- 
tions of truth, dates, anecdotes, out of the way facts in history 
and biography, flashes of wit, and touches of humor flow from 
his lips. No topic seems foreign to him, and on all he had J 
something worth the saying. Smiles light up the sober face- as 
he becomes animated in conversation* as bursts of sunshine 
transfigure some clouded landscape, giving sudden visions of its 
beauty. 

8 Professor Hamlin had the instincts and tastes of an anti- 
quarian. He loved old places, and old houses and ancient relics, 
and all things made venerable by historic associations. He be- 
came somewhat famous in Cambridge- as a local antiquary. He 
made himself acquainted with all the- places and houses and re- 
mains of historic interest in the whole region. 

All the relics of colonial times were eagerly sought out. He 
made little of a twelve or fifteen miles' walk in Boston and sub- 
urbs, led on by his delight in exploring historic scenes. In 



20 HAMLIN MEMORIAL. 

1885, the summer before his decease, he made a pedestrian tour 
to visit the battle grounds of Saratoga, and to examine the old 
fortifications of Ticonderaga. 

It was something akin to this spirit which inspired him with such 
a fondness for Mt. Katahdin, and sent him so often to explore and 
study it. The mountain was a monument of antiquity, and he 
became enthusiastic as he studied more and more its rocky his- 
tory. One of his most careful and elaborate monographs is a 
study upon the " Physical Geography and Geology of Mount 
Katahdin." Another pamphlet on the " Different Routes to 
Katahdin," is one of the most pleasing illustrations of his care- 
ful habits of observation and accuracy of statement. His 
fondness for this mountain was characteristic of the man. 
Kathadin answered three of his longings, pedestrian exercise, 
opportunities for original study, and seclusion. 

9 While the intellectual and moral characteristics of Pro- 
fessor Hamlin were so marked, it would be a very imperfect 
sketch of the man which failed to mention those amiable qual- 
ties of the heart which so endeared him to his friends. With 
all his dignity, it was one of the sweetest surprises of the man 
to discover his warm and sympathetic nature. He was no 
recluse without thought or care for his kind ; no mere book- 
worm with a shriveled heart. Few men were ever capable of 
a more sincere and lasting friendship than Professor Hamlin. 
There was friendliness in his grasp of the hand, in the tone of 
his voice, and especially in that smile, as beautiful and winning 
as ever irradiated a human countenance. We shall never for- 
get that smile. It was a revelation of what was noble and pure 
and beautiful in the character of the man. Shakespeare says, 
"That one may smile and smile and be a villian ;" but no man 
could see the smile of our professor without a conviction of his 
goodness. 

And yet he was not a man to be understood and loved in an 



HAMLIN MEMORIAL. 21 

hour. He must be known to be appreciated. His nature had 
depths. It must be explored to be known. He was one of 
those rare men who stand the tests of closest intimacy. He bound 
others to him with cords of love by his ingenuous, unselfish, 
unmistakable affection. Where he gave his heart, it was with- 
out reserve. To be called his friend was an honor to any man. 

His interest in the students who came under his instruction was 
most sincere and continuous. And this was in no sort a merely 
perfunctory interest to be forgotten after graduation. That 
kind of professional suavity which means so little, Professor 
Hamlin never put on. In his intercourse with students he often 
seemed at first somewhat stiff and constrained, which arose 
partly from his natural diffidence and partly from the entire 
absence of affectation. In all dealings with his pupils he was 
absolutely sincere and honest. Without apparent effort on his 
part, most men came very soon to feel that Professor Hamlin 
had a genuine, heartfelt interest in them. As they became more 
acquainted, they found a warm as well as a true heart. If he 
was a strict disciplinarian in the class-room, he was very kind 
and genial out of it. 

Instances of personal kindness to students might be given 
without number. It was sometimes said that he never thought 
a student could do enough, but he has been known to express 
anxious solicitude lest a conscientious man should overwork, 
and to make most careful inquiries as to his exercise and diet. 
It was the genuineness of his kindness that made it precious. 
This sincere, unconventional man could assume nothing. 
Many a man in after years has been surprised on meeting the 
professor to find how carefully his old teacher had observed his 
career and how cordial and friendly was the greeting now. He 
would meet men ten or fifteen years out of college with a 
frank exhibition of real pleasure which no art could counterfeit. 

When he could be withdrawn from his studies, an hour or 



22 HAMLIN MEMORIAL. 

two with him in his home, or on some quiet walk, proved him 
the most genial and agreeable of companions, and one of the 
most charming conversers. An old class-mate, speaking of 
such an hour spent in the shades of Mt. Auburn, says : " I 
felt as if I had walked and talked with an angel." 

There were, no doubt, a few who never came to know or appre- 
ciate Professor Hamlin in their college life, owing to their own 
peculiarities of temperament and disposition. Professor Ham- 
lin's sensitive and diffident nature stood in the way, doubtless, 
of an understanding between him and odd people. He was, no 
doubt, more likely to be misunderstood than any man of the 
faculty in Waterville College. But where one failed to under- 
stand and appreciate him, scores of others learned his real 
nature and remember him today with an ever-deepening affec- 
tion. This native capacity for friendship manifested itself also 
in his quick and cordial sympathies for all good causes and 
institutions. His devotion to Colby University was constant 
to his latest hour. She had no truer friend in all her host. His 
heart was with her in anxious desire for her prosperity. The 
only cause of regret in all his career is, that both heart and 
brain could not have been hers to the end in one unbroken 
happy service. His thoughts were with Waterville to the last- 
A day or two before his death, he called for the Advocate, and 
said : " Read what it says about Colby." Admirable as he was 
in his intellectual power, there was even a greater charm in 
those qualities of heart which adorn a noble manhood. 

10 It is time to take a glance at Professor Hamlin as a 
scholar and an instructor. As a scholar, his great qualities 
were enthusiasm and accuracy, supported by untiring industry. 

Professor Hamlin was naturally a scholar. He had an 
acquisitive intellect. Learning was his life. No man was ever 
more devoted to his profession. His enthusiasm was not fitful 
or intermittent ; it was a quenchless flame, that glowed and 



HAMLIN MEMORIAL. 23 

burned like a vestal fire for the thirty-two years of his profes- 
sional life. "He indeed scorned delights and lived laborious 
days," but not for the guerdon of fame of which the poet 
speaks. So earnest was the young professor when he entered 
upon his work at Waterville, to secure the best equipment for 
his service, and so eager to maintain his own standard at the 
level of all fresh advances in his department, that for several 
years after his appointment he spent his winter vacation in sci- 
entific study in the laboratories and cabinets of Harvard Uni- 
versity ; first in the chemical department under Professor 
Cooke, and afterward in Zoology under Professor Agassiz. 
He spent his own money for special books of reference needed 
in his department. He labored in various ways to enrich the 
meagre collection of specimens in Natural History belonging 
to the college. He collected specimens for Harvard, and 
received duplicates in return. With this end in view, he 
engaged with Professor Agassiz to furnish the birds of central 
Maine. In this work his enthusiasm knew no bounds. The 
woods and fields were scoured diligently. A half day's tramp 
through forest and meadow was little regarded, especially if his 
quest had been well rewarded. Frequently he would call out 
on his return, long before reaching the house, " Another rare 
specimen today, Lizzie," and wave his trophy with all the exul- 
tation of a boy. This scholarly enthusiasm was in his nature. 
He would have been earnest and intense anywhere. It did not 
depend upon his special department. It is a curious fact that 
his early preferences were rather for language than science. 
He taught French and Latin for many years in college with 
apparently as much interest as in his own special field, and cer- 
tainly with equal satisfaction to his best pupils. He read his 
Horace to the very close of his life from genuine love of the 
Latin tongue. 
He was an enthusiastic and untiring observer of all nature 



24 HAMLIN MEMORIAL. 

about him. He studied the near as well as the remote. The 
geologic formation of the rock at Ticonic Falls ; the flora of 
Waterville and vicinity ; the birds and insects of all the region ; 
engaged his attention. His frequent allusions to objects of local 
interest, and inquiries to elicit information revealed his love for 
nature. His delight in a rare specimen was like that of a child 
in a new pleasure. He loved original investigations better than 
his books. He studied nature in her haunts. He had a fresh, 
loving sympathy with all the natural world, which seemed poetic 
as well as scientific. With what a delicate and careful touch 
he would handle a rare specimen, as if it were almost sacred ! 
With this enthusiasm was united remarkable accuracy of schol 
arship. His range was not so wide as that of many great schol- 
ars, but his knowledge of his subjects was most exact. The 
minutest detail was not left unexplored. His work on the Syr- 
ian Molluscan Fossils is a remarkable exhibition of his ability 
to detect the slightest shades of distinction. 

His native sincerity manifested itself in great thoroughness 
of investigation. He went to the bottom of every subject that 
he handled. Every result which he was willing to announce, 
stood for a vast amount of study and research. He had learned 
well that " ars artium" of every true student of science, the art 
of saying " I don't know," which makes the " I do know " of a 
scholar so much more valuable. 

As a scholar, Professor Hamlin was pre-eminently a special- 
ist. This ability to determine minute differences, this habit of 
exactness, this nicety of discrimination, fitted him to be an au- 
thority in chosen lines. He was perhaps remarkable for exact- 
ness in detail, rather than for extent and range of learning. 

It was his enthusiastic devotion to study which took him 
from Waterville to Cambridge. Both indirectly and directly 
this was the cause of his removal. After completing his 
laborious work on the Necrology of Colby University, costing 
him untold toil, perseverance and patience, Hon. Henry W. 



HAMLIN MEMORIAL. 25 

Paine sent him one hundred dollars to use for his private libra- 
ry. He knew of a certain lot of shells and a rare book in Paris 
which would enable hirn to read them up. With the one hun- 
dred dollars he bought the work and studied the shells. Pro- 
fessor Agassiz heard of what he had done, and that was the last 
of many favorable impressions which induced him to invite 
Professor Hamlin to the Museum of Comparative Zoology. But 
directly, also, it was his intense love of study which lured him 
from Waterville. His life-long desire had been for study with- 
out interruption. He wished to be able to give his whole mind 
and time to observation and research in Paleontology. The 
Museum offered that opportunity and he could not resist 
it. It came to him as the providential fulfillment of life's 
fondest dream. I remember hearing him say when I was a stu- 
dent, " If I only had six hundred dollars a year assured income, 
I would show the world a clean pair of heels and give all my 
life to the studies I love." 

The untrammelled pursuit of knowledge was undoubtedly 
his great passion. In the duties of the Museum, in the midst of its 
wealth of material for palseontological study, in the delightful 
work of classification, he was exceedingly happy. He left Wat- 
erville not because he disliked teaching, but he grudged the 
time which it took from his beloved employ. After going to 
Cambridge he spent a small part of his time teaching Geology 
and Physical Geography in the University ; but soon he begged 
to be released, in order that he might be wholly engrossed in 
his favorite pursuits, although it occasioned a diminution of 
his salary to the amount of five hundred dollars a year. Here 
was another man who loved learning better than money ; who 
like Agassiz " had no time to make money." 

11 As a teacher, Professor Hamlin could, from his nature 
be no less than conscientious, painstaking, thorough in his own 
preparations, and exacting toward the student. His standards 
of excellence were very high, and he urged men to be satisfied 



26 HAMLIN MEMORIAL. 

with nothing less than a thorough mastery of the subject. A 
good student came after a time to feel that coming to the class 
witha poor lesson was in some sense a wrong done to the profes- 
sor. As another says of him, "He was at once the exactor and 
the model of faithful application and finished workmanship." 

His sensitive, nervous organization made it impossible for 
him to conceal his annoyance when a recitation was going 
badly. This, together with his evident distress when the 
student blundered, made him a hard instructor to face. At 
such times he would squirm about in his seat and mark vigor- 
ously on the desk with his forefinger. There was rarely loss 
of temper or display of petulance, but rather a kind of mental 
distress at the way things were going. Of course a timid or 
sensitive student could never do his best with such a teacher. 
The Professor was too strong a tonic for him. It was just here, 
in this natural defect, that Professor Hamlin came short of the 
very highest rank as a teacher. With more ease, and that self- 
control which puts the pupil at his best, and inspires confi- 
dence, he would have been a model of all that is best in the 
pedagogic art. 

It has been thought by some that he made too much of recit- 
ing memoriter, and held men too closely to the phraseology of 
the text book. But he loved exact statements and faultless 
definitions. In such matters he was not satisfied with approx- 
imation. He chose that the student should give the statements 
and definitions of the book, unless he could improve upon 
them. It cannot be said that in historic or descriptive state- 
ment he objected to independence in language, where the thought 
was made clear. The ruling idea in Waterville twenty years 
ago was, that mental discipline rather than accumulation is the 
true end of college studies. To get command of one's powers 
rather than to cover wide ranges of fact and thought, was the 
underlying principle of the old regime, and Professor Hamlin 



HAMLIN MEMORIAL. 27 

believed in it. Ever glowing with scholarly enthusiasm him- 
self, he was able to excite it in others. It was a joy to him to 
impart knowledge to receptive minds. He would fairly blaze 
with enthusiasm when after some recitation a little interested 
group would linger for further discussion. Such zeal was con- 
tagious. When the average college boy will rise at four o'clock 
of a June morning, and search the dewy fields and pastures 
for rare flowers to analyze at the morning recitation, as did 
many of my own class, it is evident that somebody had the 
ability to kindle an enthusiasm for the study of Botany. 

Professor Hamlin had the power which arose from his own 
earnestness, of inspiring his pupils with a real love of knowl- 
edge. He made men feel that every department of natural 
science was of vast importance, and this was his finest quality 
as a teacher. IJis intense zeal for knowledge and his untiring 
industry ever led him into fresh fields ; consequently he was 
truly progressive, always more learned this year than he was 
last. He was ever fresh, because always reaching after the 
new which was true. He was ever ready to accept improved 
methods when they commended themselves to his own careful 
judgment. And yet he had no sympathy with those hasty 
neologists who condemn all the old and praise all the new with- 
out discrimination. 

12 But the greatest thing in Professor Hamlin was not his 
intellect, superior as it was, nor his learning, with its wondrous 
blending of wideness and minuteness, but rather his exalted 
and resplendent manhood. Sincere, modest, kind ; . pure in 
thought and expression ; charitable in judgment, loyal to his 
convictions, yet human and reasonable ; full of most generous 
sentiment, and winning in his friendliness, he was as near the 
perfect christian gentleman as we m&y hope to see in an imper- 
fect world. His intellectual powers compel our admiration, 
his attainments in scholarship ensure him our profound respect, 



28 HAMLIN MEMOKIAL. 

but the loftiness of Iris moral character commands our rever- 
ence. Such stainless purity of life, such extraordinary freedom 
from all sordid ambitions, such zealous fidelity to every duty, 
united with sincere and humble piety, these things make him 
great ; 

"And, as the greatest only are, 
In his simplicity, sublime," 

all the essential and noblest elements of true manhood, in him 
most happily blended. 

The character of most men is like the image of Nebuchad- 
nezzar's vision, composed of various ingredients of varying 
worth — gold, silver, brass, iron and clay ; strong characteris- 
tics and weak ones, noble qualities and mean ; but here was a 
character, that we may say, bearing in mind the limitations of 
human nature, was all gold. And there was nothing morbid 
in this man's nature; it was all real, wholesome and human. 
He was full of the sweet and homely graces which are the 
charm of our daily life. Yes, in his manhood he was greatest. 
Professor Hamlin's character stands as a practical rebuke to 
the low, commercial, and often ignoble ideals of life, so preva- 
lent in American society today. That unworthy view which 
sets up the accumulation of wealth, and the attainment of 
social and political distinctions, as the chief ends of life, encoun- 
ters in him a standing protest and an all-sufficient refutation. 

That consuming desire for place and name, which embitters 
so many lives, Professor Hamlin never knew. From all that 
envious strife he dwelt serenely apart. His noble nature was 
loftily superior to it all. Repeated offers of worldly prefer- 
ment he as repeatedly refused. The two great ends of life for 
him were knoivledge and character; what a man can know and 
what he can become ; the culture of mind and the culture of 
heart. The only real aristocracy with him was that of moral worth. 
Those mighty temptations of a worldly kind so powerful in our 
times had no power over him. 



HAMLIN MEMOEIAL. 29 

He was not indifferent to intelligent praise for faithful en- 
deavor, but even this seemed rather a pleasure in work well 
done, than anything like self-complacency. He could not be 
flattered, for his own standards were the highest. It was him- 
self that he could not satisfy ; it was his own ideals that re- 
mained unrealized. He well illustrated to us the truth that the 
supreme and absolute beauty is that of holy character ; " That 
manhood is the one immortal thing, Beneath Time's changeful 
sky." He has taught us how grandly successful a human life 
may be, which, nevertheless, has in it no single element of suc- 
cess as viewed from a worldly standpoint. 

13 Finally — What were the results of his life and work ? 
To human eyes small, but in reality, large and of the 
noblest kind. He wrote no important work, he occupied no 
conspicuous position. He has left no monument of himself. 
Would that he had written more. Would that he had been less 
eager for acqusition and readier for expression. When we read 
his essay on the " Christian Teacher and Science," which has in 
it an intellectual grasp of his theme, and a nervous vigor of 
style worthy of a Huxley or a Tjmdall, combined with a chris- 
tian temper equal to Hugh Miller's, we can only regret that the 
dead thinker gave us no more of his thoughts. He spent twen- 
ty years in Waterville College, teaching class after class with 
unwearied devotion, and pursuing his own higher studies with 
consuming ardor. But the work of a teacher, though really 
imperishable, seems to the eye of sense as only tracings in the 
sand, which the rising tide will wash away. No workman on 
earth can show so little for his labor as the teacher. The 
architect shows his house, the painter his picture, the sculptor 
his statue, the poet his verses, but upon what can the instructo r 
lay his hand and confidently say, " This have I wrought " ? 
The teacher's work and the teacher's name are soon forgotten. 
In this college, where for twenty years Professor Hamlin was 



30 HAMLIN MEMOEIAL. 

so central a figure and so bright an ornament, in a few genera 
tions his name will cease to be even a memory. 

At the Museum in Cambridge his twelve years of toil in 
patient classification of the abundant treasures of Palaeontol- 
ogy collected by Agassiz and others was no doubt a most valu- 
able contribution to science ; and yet only a handful of in- 
quiring students will ever know or be able to appreciate the 
results of those years of careful research. 

But the best, the noblest, the most enduring work of man is 
often that which cannot be tabulated or put into any visible 
form. 

The greatest value of Professor Hamlin's work in life, was 
in his influence upon students as an example of a christian 
gentleman, of manly honor, of chastened dignity, of almost 
ideal manhood. And this influence, we hardly need add, is the 
most precious and valuable of all possible contributions which 
a college officer can make to a student's education. 

The best results of Professor Hamlin's life are deposited in 
the characters of the men who have been his pupils. 

He lives in us who, during his twenty years of service in this 
college, came under his influence. If we are not truer and 
nobler men from our contact with him, we have missed the 
finest opportunity that a student ever knows. 

The highest, holiest usefulness of which a human being is 
capable, is in the influence which he exerts upon others by an 
exalted, strong, pure character. And this was Professor Ham- 
lin's greatest service. Whatever else he taught, he was himself a 
daily and impressive lesson in the science of christian manhood. 

The pupil got something even better than the Professor 
taught, and he found it in the man himself. 

Living contact with men of superior minds and impressive 
moral characters is the supreme benefit of academic life. Book 
learning is much, but the subtle inspirations which run as se- 



HAMLIN MEMORIAL. 31 

cretly, but as powerfully as electric thrills, from soul to soul, 
these are even more. The inspiration and lasting impression of 
a teacher great in mind and lofty in character, is the noblest of 
all human forces. Think of the inestimable privilege of sitting 
before such men as Arnold, Wayland, Hackett, or Mark Hop- 
kins. President Garfield touched the very heart of this thought 
when he declared that for his instruction he would rather have 
Mark Hopkins on one end of a plank and himself on the other, 
than the finest array of buildings and apparatus, and modern 
methods, with Mark Hopkins left out. After all, men make col- 
leges, not endowments. 

The greatest service of Professor Hamlin was in that resplen- 
dent manhood which impressed and molded the lives of young 
men for twenty years in this college. The mistake of his life 
was in going to Cambridge. As a christian teacher he was 
most useful, and that he should have lived and died. I cannot 
help thinking that the sum total of good influence in his 
life would have been far greater had he continued unto the 
end in personal contact with the minds and hearts of young 
men. High moral character and impressive manhood are not 
required in classifying fossils, but they are greatly needed in 
molding the lives of young men. He was more needed at 
Colby than at the Museum. " Next to God's grace and the 
home training," says a pupil, himself a college professor, "I 
could hardly desire anything better for my boy than that he 
should receive the impress of such a man, scholar and teacher, 
as Professor Hamlin." And that kind of influence is truly im- 
mortal. When we who knew and loved him shall all be gone ; 
when even the traditions that linger so long in college halls 
shall cease to recall him ; when our children's children shall 
look upon this portrait as upon one utterly a stranger ; yet 
even then, in that late generation, the influence of his noble 



32 HAMLIN MEMORIAL. 

manhood will still be potent, and from his urn the dead pro- 
fessor will help to mold the generations yet to be ; for, 

" Alike are life and death, 

When life in death survives, 
And the uninterrupted breath 
Inspires a thousand lives. 

" "Were a star quenched on high, 
For ages would it light, 
Still traveling downward from the sky, 
Shine on our mortal sight. 

"So, when a good man dies, 
For years beyond our ken, 
The light he leaves behind him lies 
Upon the paths of men." 












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